Filing news: Contested primaries coming

Lots more filing activity going on. Here's a quick summary.

- Numerous District Court candidates in Harris County have made their candidacies official, including Al Bennett (61st District Court (Civil)) and Josefina Muniz Rendon (165th District Court (Civil)), who do not have primary opponents as of today; Andres C. Pereira (190th Civil District Court) and Fred Cook (215th District Court (Civil)), who do. I expect there will be a steady stream of these all the way through.

- In Travis County, we have another DA wannabe in the event Ronnie Earle calls it a career.

State District Judge Jeanne Meurer, who's retiring from the bench after 20 years, confirmed Wednesday that she's weighing a race if Earle retires after more than three decades in office.

"It's a high probability," said Meurer about her possible candidacy.

But she added that she hasn't made a final decision because Earle hasn't announced his intentions.

"It's real easy to say you've made a decision when there isn't a decision to make," Meurer said. "I'm very serious about it, but I would never run against Ronnie."

The possibility of Earle's retirement has been speculated about for awhile, and other candidates are mentioned there. Grits has more on Judge Meurer.

- Elias de la Garza is the first to jump into the open HD145 race. I don't really know anything about him, so I'm hesitant to make any sweeping statements, but at this point I see no reason why I would not be supporting Carol Alvarado in the expected event of her entry. Nothing against Mr. de la Garza, but barring anything unusual it's Alvarado for me.

- Checking the handy big TDP spreadsheet of filings (XLS file), I see a couple more contested primaries out there, in HD43, where a dentist named Tara Rios Ybarra would face off against Rep. Juan Escobar, and for Railroad Commissioner, where an Orientation & Mobility Specialist (as listed) named Mark Thompson would make it a three-way race with Dale Henry and Art Hall. I know nothing about either of these folks, though in the former case one always has to wonder about the possibility of Craddickian involvement.

- On the GOP side, BOR notes a challenge to 2006 Leininger acolyte Rep. Nathan Macias:

Edwards Aquifer Authority Chairman Doug Miller filed papers Monday to run in the Republican primary for District 73 in the Texas House against first-term incumbent Nathan Macias.

"Texas can accomplish great things if we work hard and work together," Miller said. "I am willing to do that hard work. Conservatives have been let down. There is too much spending and there are too many loopholes being left open for criminals to walk through. Those are the problems I intend to focus my attention upon."

Miller represents Comal and Guadalupe counties on the EAA board, which he has served on since it was created in 1993. He has also served as a police officer and as mayor of New Braunfels. He owns an insurance agency.

That one ought to be interesting to watch.

That's all I've got for now. What are you hearing?

Posted by Charles Kuffner on December 05, 2007 to Election 2008